Former Pro Bowl RB details tough transition from football, battle for benefits from NFL
Injuries cost former Buffalo Bills first-round pick Willis McGahee 34 games over his 11-year NFL career.
He retired from the NFL a decade ago at the age of 32, and McGahee admitted in a recent interview with The Athletic that he struggled to cope with life after football, especially given the punishment he subjected his body to for a sport that never quite loved him back.
“When it’s gone, you really have nothing to fall back on,” McGahee said. “It’s just a lot coming at you, man, and it gets mentally tough. [Taking my life] crossed my mind a couple of times.”
When he hung up his cleats, McGahee was almost always in pain. He had a list of injuries that would rival a CVS receipt in length and included ailments such as “multiple torn ligaments in both knees, two torn hip flexors, a fractured tibia, a twisted vertebra, a boxer fracture, at least two major concussions, ‘countless’ broken ribs and high-ankle sprains, several knee scopes and dozens of joint aspirations,” according to The Athletic.
McGahee suffered a brutal knee injury in the 2003 National Championship Game in which he tore his ACL, MCL and PCL that required multiple surgeries and a lengthy rehabilitation regimen. Despite the fact he would miss his entire rookie season, the Buffalo Bills selected him with the 23rd overall pick in the 2003 draft.
McGahee missed several games off and on over the years, playing a full NFL season just three times in 11 years. In fact, his retirement was essentially a forced one due to no team wanting to sign a 32-year-old running back with his lengthy injury history to play the position that takes arguably the most physical beating.
Now in a better place mentally, McGahee is still fighting to get back a small piece of what the NFL took from him.
The two-time Pro Bowler is battling the league, which has repeatedly denied him Total & Permanent Disability benefits, which are supposed to go to retired players who can no longer work due to a disability — criteria McGahee believes he fits.
He claims to have orthopedic, neurological, neuropsychological and psychological impairments, all backed by a physician. Now, McGahee is part of a class-action lawsuit against the NFL along with several other players to try and get their T&P benefits approved.
“It’s not benefiting the players who are really, actually hurt and going through stuff in life,” McGahee said. “They’re not taking care of us. It’s a sham. I’m tired of it. Somebody has to step up and do something about it.”
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